Energy and Climate Change

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CEPI becomes an associate member of the European Energy Forum

The EEF provides a place for knowledge-sharing and open dialogue on energy, climate and other energy-related issues. For over 20 years, this non-profit association enables its members representing all energy-related sectors to meet, get informed and debate in a setting where all views and ideas are welcome. By promoting dialogue and exchange of expertise, the EEF wants to ensure that stakeholders with different perspectives and interests have an occasion to understand each other’s position so as to work together in a constructive way. The discussions and other activities organised by the EEF every month touch upon all issues related to energy, always adapting to new challenges in a fast-changing EU energy system. The programme of activities takes into account the EU political agenda thereby reflecting the work of the European institutions. The EEF is chaired by MEP Jerzy Buzek. It is composed of 34 Active Members (MEPs) and 83 Associate Members from energy and energy-intensive organisations.

Associate membership of the EEF will provide CEPI with a platform to represent the views of its membership in the high-level discussions on energy-related topics and provide a forum to bring to the discussion the European forest-fibre and paper industry's unique position as both an entirely renewable and recycable industry leading on the EU's circular bioeconomy transition.

The European paper industry produces from wood a multitude of value-added products such as paper, carboard and other biobased materials and uses its residues for bioenergy.

With today’s vote the EU has sought to recognise the value of sourcing wood sustainably and preventing subsidies that distort markets and encourage the burning of wood for megawatts.

“The European Parliament realises that there is more value to the circular bioeconomy than turning wood into megawatts” says Sylvain Lhôte, Director General of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI).

MEPs have moved in favour of building upon existing sustainable forest management practices in Europe, the so-called “risk-based approach” rather than rendering the regulatory context more complex. At the same time ensuring that the availability of wood is taken into consideration is also a step in the right direction.

They have also sent a strong signal that the recovery of energy from waste must be strictly guided by the waste hierarchy and that the burning of paper-based material, which can be collected seperately and recycled, should be avoided.

The challenge is now in the hands of the Council to ensure that wood is used sustainably and that REDII remains consistent with the EU’s own goals of making the circular bioeconomy a reality in Europe.

Note to editor:
Guaranteeing that wood is sourced from sustainably managed forests and championing a high-performing recycling chain will be critical to securing the quantity and quality of the raw materials the industry uses as it transitions towards the low-carbon circular bioeconomy. Read more on how we can achieve this in the revised version of our ‘Investment Roadmap’.

ETS reform restores regulatory certainty but gaps remain

Following today’s inter-institutional political agreement on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is broadly encouraged by improvements in the regulation for the 2021-2030 period.

“The conclusion of the ETS negotiations now restores the regulatory predictability needed for advancing industrial transformation. Investments in low-carbon technologies are core to what we stand for as an industry. A more stable regime and tools such as the ETS Innovation Fund will be crucial in accelerating the industry's transition towards a low-carbon circular bioeconomy” says Sylvain Lhôte, Director General of CEPI.

The final compromise text improves significantly the scheme with a more robust stability in carbon leakage provisions and firmer predictability in reviewing the benchmark values. The Innovation Fund will also act as a crucial mechanism in advancing the breakthrough technologies that will spur the industry’s low-carbon transition.

Nonetheless, several aspects of the text are lacking and these would need to be resolved. For instance, the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) was significantly amended without any prior assessment of its impact on “industrial competitiveness and the risk of carbon leakage”, even though this was an explicit requirement when amending the MSR decision. Likewise, no solution was found to effectively ensure compensation for indirect costs for exposed energy intensive installations. Finally, while the risk of a shortfall in free credits has been mitigated it has not been structurally eradicated thereby causing unnecessary regulatory risks. The impact of all of the above-mentioned aspects will become more evident by 2021, when all implementing legislation will be finalised. It is therefore imperative to swiftly finalise the full regulatory landscape by adopting all the implementing acts well ahead of 2021.

Note to editor:

Ensuring that the ETS also functions as a pro-investment tool is a core component of the European paper industries ‘2050 Investment Roadmap’. Check out our ‘Alignment matrix’ here to see how the ETS can provide a platform for catalysing and enabling industry transformation in Europe.

For more information, please contact Nicola Rega, Climate Change and Energy Director at n.rega@cepi.org or by phone at (+32) 485 40 34 12

Renewable Energy Directive: CEPI analysis of sustainability criteria for solid biomass fuels in the European Commission proposal for a Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewables (recast)

The sustainable forest management framework has evolved and strengthened over time balancing a market based demand for wood products and bioenergy with the other environmental and climate functions of the forest. More recently, the EU policy framework to support the use of energy from renewable sources has led to a strong increase of bio-energy use within short timeframes. The increased demand has led to rising imports of wood. To ensure the sustainability of the policy induced increase of bioenergy use and wood imports, the following issues have to be considered:

• Do the needs for wood biomass lead to any of the following critical consequences: resource depletion, land conversion, negative impacts on biodiversity?

• Is the direct burning of wood biomass an efficient use of a raw material that could first be used for higher value purposes?

• How could monitoring, reporting and verification ensure carbon sustainability?

CEPI believes that the Commission proposal provides in principle an appropriate response to the challenges caused by a policy induced increase in the use of biomass for energy.

CEPI welcomes the following principles:

1. Solid biomass fuels would only count towards the renewable energy targets if they comply with a number of forest management, LULUCF and greenhouse gas savings, and end use conversion efficiency criteria.

2. CEPI welcomes that the criteria are applied equivalently based on the type of biomass used and independently on which physical form (solid, gaseous or liquid) of the biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels produced.

3. There is a risk based approach for forest management and GHG criteria starting from the country level. Only if no evidence can be provided at country level, the forest holding level is considered. We believe however that an operator should have the possibility to assess the risk and proof sustainability at higher than forest holding level, if necessary information is available. The risk management system and the criteria refer to existing legislation, such as LULUCF accounting and environmental legislation.

4. The principle that the emissions from biogenic carbon are accounted as neutral in the energy sector is maintained as they are assumed to be already accounted in the LULUCF sector. We believe however, that for countries where emissions from LULUCF are not accounted, the criterion should be covered by the forest management criteria, especially the criterion that the long term production capacity of the forest is maintained.

5. Support to new conversions of coal based power stations to biomass with low efficiency would be ended from 2020. CEPI believes however, that Member States should be allowed to exempt above 20 MW installations from the CHP obligation based on climatic conditions.

6. The Commission proposes a system in which the burden of proof would be upon the energy producer rather than upon the individual forest owner. The criteria have to be fulfilled by installations of more than 20 MW fuel capacity, limiting the burden on small scale installations.

CEPI also believes that some provisions have to be improved:

1. Secure a functioning internal market: Member States should not have the possibility to go beyond the EU agreed sustainability criteria. This would hamper the functioning of the internal market and complicate the verification system.

2. Introduce meaningful LULUCF criteria at subnational level: For forest biomass from countries that do not account for LULUCF emissions it should be made clear that the core forest management criteria and especially the one on maintaining the long term production capacity of the forest should minimize the risk of LULUCF emission at the subnational level.

3. Review at the appropriate time: The review should take place in time before the post 2030 period, but a review in 2023 i.e. only after 3 years of application of the criteria is too early to be meaningful.

4. Ensure the forest management criteria are relevant, credible and implementable: CEPI proposes technical improvements to the forest management criteria at national and especially at the sublevel. CEPI is looking forward to a constructive dialogue with the European Commission services and other institutional and non-institutional stakeholders to ensure the forest management criteria are relevant, credible and implementable and will propose amendments in this respect.

To our roots and beyond - Reducing emissions for the 2050 society

In a first of its kind project the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) has called upon its member companies to voluntarily exhibit innovative, emissions-reducing projects that centre on increasing energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. The ‘To Our Roots and Beyond’ project puts the focus back on the industry’s leading role in contributing to a sustainable, low-carbon society. The project demonstates how industry is taking responsibilty in reducing its carbon emissions, as well as taking a leading role in providing bio-based solutions to decarbonise society at large. In total, the project gathers 14 innovative case studies from 10 EU countries, involving 12 companies representing a diverse array of projects. The innovative projects which focus on energy efficiency and/or renewables are indicative of the diverse means the paper industry has at its disposal to reduce emissions whilst building upon its unique strength as an entirely renewable material.

European paper industry shows the way in innovative solutions for energy efficiency and renewables

In a first of its kind project the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) has called upon its member companies to voluntarily exhibit innovative, emissions-reducing projects that centre on increasing energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

The ‘To Our Roots and Beyond’ project puts the focus back on the industry’s leading role in contributing to a sustainable, low-carbon society. The project demonstates how industry is taking responsibilty in reducing its carbon emissions, as well as taking a leading role in providing bio-based solutions to decarbonise society at large.

In total, the project gathers 14 innovative case studies from 10 EU countries, involving 12 companies representing a diverse array of projects. The innovative projects which focus on energy efficiency and/or renewables are indicative of the diverse means the paper industry has at its disposal to reduce emissions whilst building upon its unique strength as an entirely renewable material.

“Our industry has set a vision to unleash the full potential of the bioeconomy by 2050, driving both value creation and deep decarbonisation. This project demonstrates how we put words into action and what it takes, on the ground, to turn ¬vision into reality through smart industrial integration, innovation in energy efficiency or advanced use of renewables” says Sylvain Lhôte, Director General at CEPI

As part of its commitment to reducing emissions this project will be renewed on a bi-annual basis. This project will remain a permanent feature of the industry’s commitment to put into practice its vision outlined in its ‘2050 Investment Roadmap’. The project website, including a link to the brochure, can be found here.

In February 2011 CEPI relaunched its Roadmap putting into action its vision to reduce emissions by 80% while creating 50% more added value. The Roadmap envisions the need for €44 billion additional investment - a 40% increase on current levels – to lead the transition towards a low-carbon bioeconomy by 2050.

Unlock demand side flexibility for European consumers, innovation and the climate

Signatories of this letter welcome the Clean Energy Package as the means to set in place new rules for a consumer-centred European energy system, by implementing the three stated EU objectives: putting energy efficiency first, achieving global leadership in renewable energies and providing a fair deal for consumers.

Demand side flexibility is a resource that not only benefits and empowers individual consumers, both private and professional, but also reduces total system costs, facilitates renewables integration and contributes to building Europe’s smart energy leadership.
This remarkable resource however suffers from important market failures that the ‘Clean energy for all Europeans’ package attempts to address. Signatories of this letter, all strong advocates for demand side flexibility, urge you to include the necessary proposals to develop demand side flexibility in the final legislation, and ensure consistent enforcement through thorough planning and reporting obligations in the Governance regulation report.

The stakes are high. Not delivering Europe’s demand side flexibility potential risks affecting Europe’s competitiveness, undermining its decarbonisation efforts, undermining its benefits for consumers and jobs and growth opportunities for Europe as a whole.
The following points highlight key steps necessary to develop demand side flexibility by creating functioning wholesale energy markets; opening markets to consumers and third parties; and remunerating demand side flexibility fairly.

1. Creating functioning wholesale energy markets
The electricity directive and regulation can significantly contribute to establishing well-functioning energy markets that reflect the availability or scarcity of supply and the adequacy of the network. In particular,
• Reform short-term markets functioning to help increase the overall flexibility of the power system (Electricity Regulation Chapter 2).

• Harmonise features of intraday and balancing markets to encourage trading of energy across borders, and as close as possible to the time of delivery (Electricity Regulation, Articles 5 and 7).

• Tackle overcapacity of generation to re-establish long term price signals for investors and minimise the risks that capacity mechanisms create for the development of efficient wholesale markets, as well as consumer empowerment, demand response and the deployment of innovative low carbon and energy efficiency technologies. The best way to minimise such risks is to:

o Only implement capacity mechanisms as a last resort, when proven strictly necessary by a European adequacy assessment which factors in the contribution of renewables, self-consumption and on-site generation (including cogeneration) and assesses flexibility needs (Electricity Regulation, Article 18).
o Ensure capacity mechanisms are open to all resources such as energy efficiency, demand response, storage, all generation technologies, and cross border capacity (to add to Electricity Regulation, Article 23).
o Review the need for capacity mechanisms regularly:
- So as to ensure consistency between procurement of capacity and the size of the adequacy concerns (to add to Electricity Regulation, Article 23) on the basis of the latest European resource adequacy assessment
- So as to ensure consistency with the overall competitiveness and decarbonisation objectives
o Ensure that the duration of the capacity contract is short enough to correspond to the regular reviews.
o Require Transmission System Operators (TSOs) to report on redispatch and countertrading measures they undertake, including underlying costs, and the level of effectiveness and openness of market-based curtailment or re-dispatching mechanisms to all energy resources. In turn, the creation of liquid and efficient markets and the deployment of demand side flexibility resources will reduce the need for additional measures to guarantee system adequacy.

2. Ensuring market access for consumers and third parties

Rules must be established and enforced so that demand-side resources have unhindered access to all energy markets (wholesale, balancing, ancillary services) in all timeframes, including through product requirements fit for supply and demand-side resources alike. This also means direct market access for consumers and new market entrants, including third party aggregators and ESCOs.
In particular:

• Give consumers the right to participate in energy markets with dynamic price contracts. This includes providing customers information on actual time of use at near real time and the right to respond to price signals, as well giving consumers the right to sell flexibility independently of any contractual arrangements to procure energy, directly or through an (independent) aggregator. Smart metering is a pre-requisite as the certified basis for billing consumer using multiple tariffs for market-based pricing. It also forms the foundation for the development of additional consumer services (Electricity Directive, Articles 11, 17, 20, 21).

• Enable fair market access for Demand Response and service providers. Deployment of demand side flexibility has so far been impeded by outdated market rules, insufficient market access for service providers and ineffective price signals. Demand response should have non-discriminatory access to all markets (Electricity Regulation, Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, Electricity Directive, Articles: 3, 15, 16, 17) and Demand Response Aggregators should be enabled to access the market without prior agreement of other market parties who are often competitors (Electricity Directive Article 17).

• Network tariffs should be fully transparent and allow the development of self-consumption and self-generation. They should be based on the marginal costs of the use of the system and take into account the avoided capital (e.g. grid investments) and operational expenditures due to flexible generation and flexible load embedded at the local level, as well as avoided CO2 emissions. (Electricity Regulation Article 16; Electricity Directive Article 15).

• Accelerate the cost-efficient decarbonisation of the existing building stock, notably through reaping the flexibility benefits of technical building systems and other appliances to support consumer empowerment: set in place a proper framework for the deployment of infrastructures (i.e. on-site renewable electricity generation, high efficiency cogeneration, smart metering or electro-mobility) and of demand-responsive devices that will facilitate the buildings’ integration into a wider energy ‘eco-system’ where active prosumers self-generate, self-consume, aggregate, trade and sell surplus electricity to the grid. In this new setting, buildings will no longer be a load but a micro-energy hub contributing to consumer empowerment and cost-efficiency of the energy system. The smartness indicator of buildings should support consumer empowerment and the development of buildings as part of the energy system.

• Create a comprehensive framework for grid monitoring, so as to increase the visibility of flexibility, including demand-side flexibility. It should be based on information that TSOs and DSOs would publish regularly as regards to the performance of their networks , in particular the volumes and sources of curtailed energy (Electricity Directive, Article 59). Comprehensive reporting on grid evolution, together with appropriate tariff structure, will be an essential basis for cost-effective network management and enable the targeted acquisition of flexibility services from the market by system operators instead of CAPEX only investments (Electricity Directive, Article 32).

• Ensure enforceability of the right for citizens and businesses to self-generate, self-consume, and valorise their flexibility; (Electricity regulation Article 16; Electricity directive Article 15).

• Establish a constructive framework for energy storage which takes into account the specificity of the energy storage technologies, and recognizes that TSOs and DSOs should not own, develop, manage or operate storage assets, unless a market based procurement based on an open and transparent tendering procedure is proven of not being possible and is regularly reviewed. (Electricity Directive, Articles 36 and 54)

Signatories of this letter are convinced that such a way forward will provide consumers with the satisfaction of managing their own energy consumption while optimising their overall carbon and environmental performance.

European paper industry reaction to the US administration's withdrawal from Paris Agreement on climate change

"The US administration’s decision to step down from the Paris Agreement sadly puts at risk the global efforts needed to address climate change. It also regrettably reflects a view that climate action would undermine industry competitiveness. To make the case for action - and win back the US, Europe must decisively demonstrate that decarbonisation can go hand in hand with industrial competitiveness and investments. The European paper industry has a vision through its Investment Roadmap to decarbonise by 80%, create 50% more added value and increase its investment by 40% by 2050. This should be done in the background of a Paris Climate Change Agreement which provides a solid framework for climate action and fosters a global level playing field" says Sylvain Lhote, Director General at CEPI

Position paper | 19 May.2017

Statement from the alliance of energy intensive industries on the clean energy for all Europeans package

We, the Alliance of Energy Intensive Industries representing more than 30,000 companies that are Europe’s largest energy consumers and together, directly employ more than 2.8 Million people, want to make a success of the Energy Union. We see it as a potential enabler of European industry’s competitiveness and a unique opportunity to deliver on Europe’s ambitious transition to a low-carbon energy system. Energy Intensive Industries make a series of recommendations to reach this ambition in an effective, secure and cost-conscious way that delivers value for investment to European economic contributors such as industry. The Alliance would welcome a new energy framework that:

- ENABLES INNOVATION IN INDUSTRY SECTORS THAT DEVELOP PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES leading to lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) across value chains. Our industries offer low-carbon solutions to help Europe transitioning to a low-carbon, energy efficient region. Our products and innovative processes have a strong potential to enable greater energy efficiency or help the wider deployment of renewables;

- PUTS THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS DIMENSION HIGH Our industries will be key in delivering several elements of the Clean Energy Package. The Governance of the Energy Union must acknowledge this and not relegate the competitiveness dimension as secondary to other aspects, but increase its prominence;

- SECURES INDUSTRY’S ACCESS TO COMPETITIVE, RELIABLE, AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY through a fully liberalised European electricity market. The growing share of variable renewable energy production in the grid represents both a challenge and an opportunity for industry. Negative impact of system changes on industry and on security of energy supply must be avoided. Policy framework conditions should be nondiscriminatory, technology-neutral and predictable over the longer term to enable sustainable investment decisions;

- AVOIDS COSTLY AND UNNECESSARY OVERLAPPING LEGISLATION: The EU ETS and the Market Stability Reserve will lead to a higher price of carbon under the 2030 framework. It is therefore important that new measures do not overlap with ETS, adding an additional layer of obligations for industry, but rather target untapped potential laying in e.g. buildings or mobility sectors. Enabling better energy performance in those sectors would stimulate our economy and create new jobs and growth opportunities;

- CLEARLY DIFFERENTIATES ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND REDUCTIONS IN INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY: looking at levels of energy consumptions in the different sectors of our economy, it is clear that so far the 2020 objective is being partly met through reduced levels of production. Our industries wish to contribute to growth in Europe while, at the same time, improving their energy efficiency performance; in this framework, it is relevant to assess reduction of energy consumption in relative terms;

- INTEGRATES RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN A COST-EFFICIENT MANNER: as long as it is in place, support to renewable energies must become cost-efficient and must focus on technology-neutral innovation. Support
schemes should be market-based and market responsive. They should only benefit technologies that are not yet mature, on a temporary basis.

As key players in the transition to a low-carbon economy, energy intensive industries and value-chain partners will provide constructive input into the decision-making process.

On 15 May 2017 Ecofys published the report “Allowances balance calculation in the EU ETS”, commissioned by Fertilizers Europe.

The document is full of omissions in data collection and analysis. Although the authors acknowledge such shortcomings throughout the whole report, they still conclude that, even with improved accuracy “by performing an extensive data collection […] it is expected that the main conclusions of this study would remain the same”. In other words: the results would be the same, regardless of facts and figures.

Such a statement would be sufficient to disregard this alleged “objective study”.

Yet in CEPI we are strongly convinced that facts and figures are essential to developing informed decisions. CEPI facts and figures are backed by our in-house statistical team and are third-party verified. We believe this ethos should equally apply to others.

As the Ecofys document is built on an impressive amount of misleading or “adjusted” information, we believe it is imperative to rectify the claims against the pulp and paper industry:

1. Sector definition and cross-boundary heat flows

A whopping 20% of additional carbon emissions for our industry are not accounted for in the Ecofys report.

In the ETS, emissions from heat are allocated to the heat consumer, not the heat producer (where emissions effectively take place). Heat-related emissions are thus not counted under the ETS registry codes “pulp and paper” but under “combustion installation”, even if these emissions happen within the perimeter of the industrial site.

The impact of these emissions is massive: the sector actually moves from having a surplus to having a shortage of allocations[1].

Ecofys is well aware of the impact heat flows calculations has on industry allocation, particularly for the pulp and paper industry. Yet, it decides to disregard them, concluding that “indicatively” the pulp and paper industry has “an allowance surplus that carries long into phase IV”.

Clearly, by using “alternative facts”, anything can be “indicatively assumed”.

2. Emission levels in Phase III

Despite concrete achievements, our sector’s emission reductions have not matched the allocation reductions induced by the cross-sectoral correction factor. For example, in 2016 only our sector was 4% under-allocated.

Our sector is under-allocated and, unless major disruptions happen, will remain so until at least 2020. The regulatory impact post-2020 is still unknown.

Any increase in allocation surplus for our sector, as illustrated in the Ecofys report from 2014 to 2020, is unreal and unrealistic.

3. Emissions carried over from Phase II

First and foremost, the above-mentioned cross-border heat flow applies also here. The figures lack data on emissions from combustion installations in the paper industry. Had these figures been taken into consideration, they would have shown a cumulative surplus in line with other industrial sectors. This comes to no surprise as the pulp and paper industry, like all industries, was heavily hit by the economic and financial crisis.

Moreover, at the beginning of Phase II, in 2008, the pulp and paper industry had 872 open permits in the ETS. In 2013, at the beginning of phase III the open permits were reduced to 825.

Many of the installations that closed were small and medium enterprises, often family-owned. When an installation closes those allowances are gone: either released to the market or cancelled. There is no intra-company transfer.

Unused allowances released to the market could be in anyone’s account, including in fertilizer companies.
Assuming that all those allowances remained at the disposal of the pulp and paper industry for future use, painting the image that the sector is sitting on an immense amount of unused credits, is purely fictional.

4. Carbon intensity improvements (past, present, future)

The pulp and paper industry is proud of the achievements reached in reducing carbon emissions over the past years. Since 2005, when the ETS began, we have reduced our carbon intensity by around 21%.

This was the result of real investments and it lead to the creation of jobs and growth. In the recent years we have been investing 3.5 bn €/year, including investments in energy efficiency and higher use of renewable energy sources.

In fact, in some countries we have even achieved an impressive 75% emission reduction since 2005, without jeopardising international competitiveness.

The carbon footprint of the pulp and paper industry is already very low (0.7%of EU GHG emissions) and will further reduce.

We see tremendous potential in linking the low-carbon economy to the bioeconomy and the circular economy. Our mills are already producing cost-effective low carbon solutions to replace carbon intensive products.

The Ecofys report, on the contrary, assumes no improvement in carbon-intensity both in the past and the future. Meaning rewarding incumbents and putting up barriers to innovation.

We strongly disagree.

In conclusion

Climate change is a serious threat, and needs to be treated seriously. We need to refocus on investments in the EU economy, driving the transition towards a low-carbon economy where Europe leads by example

Within this context, the ETS needs to promote and reward those investing in low-carbon technologies and solutions.

All sectors are important and should be treated equally. And they all need to contribute.

The clock is ticking and 2021 is just around the corner. We need to close the ETS negotiations as soon as possible, to give industry the regulatory predictability needed to start planning the next wave of low-carbon investments.

“No trade-off on Fairness”: Recommendations from the Alliance for a fair ETS

The Parliament, the Council and the Commission enter now the trilogue negotiations that will shape the ETS directive after 2020.

We, the 17 signatories of this paper, energy-intensive sectors representing about 2 million jobs in the EU and comprising many SME’s, are fully committed in taking our share of responsibilities and reducing our emissions.
However, we are also very concerned by the impact that some proposed measures would have on our global competitiveness.

We stand by one principle: sufficient free allowances must be available to allocate every carbon leakage installation at the level of the benchmark, as to avoid additional direct and indirect costs, resulting from the implementation of the ETS that are not faced by our non-EU competitors.

This is true more than ever, especially when some measures, which have been proposed without any impact assessment on our sectors, might have a dramatic impact on our competitiveness if adopted without the necessary flexibility in the share of free allocation, like the permanent cancellation of allowances, or the doubling of the intake rate of the MSR.

We therefore ask the trilogue negotiators to acknowledge, in their final compromise, the mutual importance of our sectors for the EU economy, in particular for European jobs, and all our economic value chains by:

1) Ensuring enough free allowances are available to allocate all carbon leakage installations at the level of the benchmark. This is not a free lunch for industry as less than 5% of the installations will receive enough to produce, the remaining 95% will have to buy allowances. We therefore support the Parliament proposal to reduce the auctioning share by max 5% (from 57% to 52%) if the CSCF is necessary.

2) Rejecting any approach which aims at discriminating a few from other sectors exposed to carbon leakage risks, namely the “tiered CSCF” in the event that the 5% reduction mentioned above is not sufficient. This discrimination between industrial sectors goes against the principle set in the October European Council Conclusions that best performing companies in ETS carbon leakage sectors should not bear further carbon costs. Indeed, a tiered CSCF would entail that even best performers in most sectors would bear significant carbon costs.

3) Supporting the proposal from the Parliament by which the Innovation fund is fully financed from the auctioning share.

Placing competitiveness at the heart of the ‘Energy Package’

In view of the European Commission's publication of its Winter Energy package, the European paper industry has compiled a position paper outlining its stance on key aspects of the proposal. Here are our key messages:

Deliverables expected by “Clean energy for all Europeans” package, as a whole:

 Electricity markets
• Allowing for market-based prices to show real value of electricity
• RES generators should participate in the markets in the same way as all other generators
• Subsidies to RES-E should not be allowed to distort wood supply markets
• Security of electricity supply to energy intensive industry must be secured
• Demand flexibility should be voluntary and rewarded
• The benefits of CHP should be recognised (efficiency, cost effective, energy security, resource efficiency)
• EU should not create more bureaucracy or official bodies / authorities

 Energy Union Governance
• No to a binding cap on energy consumption impeding industrial growth
• Increased mobilisation of forest biomass is essential in reaching the 2030 renewable energy target
• Need for a real focus on industrial competitiveness
• Reduction of administrative burden for business needs to be prioritised
• Need to avoid/minimise policy conflicts and overlaps

 Energy Efficiency
• The directive should not set a binding EU cap on energy consumption
• Member States should be allowed to set their own indicative targets
• Costs and potentials varies across Member States: there is no one-size-fits-all energy savings trajectory
• Equal footing between obligation schemes and alternative measures needs to be preserved
• Cogeneration to remain at the core of the Energy Efficiency Directive

 Renewable energy
• Support schemes should not distort wood markets and should stimulate supply of wood
• Opening up to national schemes to cross-border participation in electricity markets should lead to more market integration, not to harmonised subsidies
• Guarantees of origin should remain as trade description, not to be used as subsidies
• There is no “one size fits all” in heating and cooling: focus should be on flexibility and cost-efficiency
• Emission reduction in transport should cost-efficiently drive renewable energies in transport (RES-T) integration into the market while not resulting in transportation costs increased
• Our industry is an emerging producer of RES-T solutions mainly from wastes and residues, such as advanced biofuels, biogas, excess electricity from bio-based pulp and paper mills...
• Bureaucracy and costs should be avoided when implementing sustainability criteria

ETS: on the right track but pitfalls remain

Following today’s vote at plenary on the Emissions Trading System the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is overall encouraged by the compromise text reached. There is much in the agreement that the industry can be positive about, retaining many of the key components of the compromise text agreed the Environment committee (ENVI) stage.

“The ETS has moved a step further on its pro-investment track. Although pitfalls still remain at Council level we are confident that the current text can be improved on” says Nicola Rega, Energy and Climate Change Director at CEPI

The industry commends several key aspects of the Parliament’s decision:
• Reemphasising the need for all sectors to contribute to reducing carbon emissions
• Encouragement of early movers investing in low-carbon technologies
• Maintaining flexibility in setting the auction share
• A first step in finding solutions to help member states with compensation for indirect carbon costs
• The development of a wider-ranging fund for innovation supporting industry transition towards a low-carbon economy

Unfortunately, the macro-agreement at the core of the decision by the Parliament still maintains traces of discrimination between sectors, ultimately rewarding those investing the least in carbon emission reductions. But we are confident that this environmentally and legally questionable element will be removed as the next stage of the negotiations. This would guarantee that fairness remains a core component of the ETS.

For more information, please contact Nicola Rega at n.rega@cepi.org or by phone at (+32) 485 40 34 12

Energy-intensive sectors call on MEPs to reject any "tiered approach"

We, the signatories of this paper, energy-intensive sectors representing about 2 million jobs in the EU and comprising many SME’s, are under direct impact of the EU ETS and are recognized as exposed to carbon, investment and employment leakage.

We ask Members of the European Parliament to acknowledge the mutual importance of our sectors for the EU economy, in particular for European jobs in your constituencies, and all our economic value chains by fully rejecting any “tiered approach” to free allocation and voting against it.

In order to ensure an equal level playing field for all energy-intensive industries, we call for the rejection of all approaches which aim at discriminating a few from other sectors exposed to carbon leakage risks, namely: the “tiered approach” to free allowance allocation, the “tiered CSCF” and the “import inclusion mechanism”.

This discrimination between industrial sectors goes against the principle set in the October European Council Conclusions that best performing companies in ETS carbon leakage sectors should not bear further carbon costs. Indeed, it would ensure that even best performers in most sectors would bear significant carbon costs.

We appreciate that all policy makers want to avoid undue carbon costs to industry and the triggering of the cross-sectoral correction factor (CSCF, reduces benchmark-based allocation to undertakings). The fairest and most effective way to provide eligible companies with the allowances needed for controlling the carbon leakage risk and still avoiding the CSCF is to increase the free allocation share and to reduce the auctioning volume accordingly. However, we are concerned by the ENVI proposal to exclude only certain sectors from the application of the CSCF, via the so-called “tiered CSCF”. Other sectors in turn would be severely undersupplied. Again this approach would arbitrarily differentiate between different European industries. Protection of some sectors should not be achieved at the expense of the others. Such segregation would also bring into question the environmental integrity of the scheme.

Moreover, we are alarmed by the late introduction of an entirely new proposal for an “import inclusion mechanism” for sectors with lower trade intensity. This is discriminatory, legally questionable and would limit the ability of certain sectors to compete on a level playing field. The notion is contrary to the principal idea of the carbon leakage risk assessment being based on two main criteria (trade intensity and CO2 intensity) as the “import inclusion mechanism” only considers the former. Finally, it goes against the Paris Agreement which does not contain any suggestions allowing for unilateral trade measures. Overall, it introduces a major change to the future of the ETS scheme increasing the legal uncertainty for the ETS reform post 2020.

We reiterate our opposition to any differentiation between the energy intensive industries and under any form of the “tiered approach” and ask you to reject it in the Plenary.

ETS review: Game over for Tiered Approach

Today’s vote in Environment Committee of the European Parliament marks another major stepping stone for the ETS review.

“There are no more doubts. The message from the Parliament is unequivocal: Game over for the tiered approach. The time has come to promote and reward low-carbon investments” says Nicola Rega, Climate Change and Energy Director at the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI).

The vote reinforces the decisions already taken by the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy in mid-October. It underlines the need for all sectors to contribute in reducing carbon emissions; flexibility in setting the auction share; a pragmatic solution to help member states with compensation for indirect carbon costs, and a wider-ranging fund for innovation.

The broad range of political support reached proves that the difficulties negotiators faced over the last months were worth it. We therefore fully congratulate the rapporteur, Ian Duncan, and the shadow rapporteurs Ivo Belet, Jytte Guteland, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Kateřina Konečná, Eleonora Evi, Bas Eickhout and Mireille d’Ornano for their commitment to achieving a common position.
Although these are positive developments, a lot still needs to be achieved ahead of the Council negotiations. In particular, the solutions to address the impact of the cross-sectoral correction factor are far from satisfactory. The attempt to shield more than 50% of industrial emissions from this mechanism is unjustifiable from an environmental, economic and equitable perspective. It doubles the uncertainty connected to the CSCF for less carbon intensive sectors and limits their investment security for low carbon investments. In addition, the last-minute solution to include a border adjustment mechanism into the ETS raises more questions than answers.

A significant investment challenge lies ahead for European manufacturing industry to transform its production base and regain competitiveness. With our positive attitude we will constructively continue to engage with policy-makers to ensure that the ETS will work as a tool to reward low-carbon investments. It is high time we put the ETS on a pro-investment track.

The proposed flexibility in setting the auction share together with proposed solutions to help member states with compensation for indirect carbon costs and the wider-ranging fund for innovation are also welcomed by our industry.

We recognise the efforts made towards reaching a broad political agreement embracing almost all the political groups. This is a very positive signal as it demonstrates the strong consensus behind this vote. We fully congratulate the rapporteur, Frederik Federley and shadow rapporteurs Esther de Lange, Edouard Martin and Hans-Olaf Henkel for their commitment to achieving a common position.

Although these are positive developments, more work needs to be done to address the text’s shortcomings, particularly on benchmarks, the impact of the cross-sectoral correction factor and on effective compensation for indirect costs across Europe.

A significant investment challenge lies ahead for European manufacturing industry to transform its production base and regain competitiveness. We will constructively engage with policy-makers to ensure industry’s viability and that the ETS rewards low-carbon investments. We urge the ENVI Committee to seize the opportunity to build upon ITRE’s lead and to put the ETS on a pro-investment track.

For more information, please contact Nicola Rega at n.rega@cepi.org or by mobile: (+32) 26274918

Note to the Editor

CEPI aisbl - The Confederation of European Paper Industries

The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is a Brussels-based non-profit organisation regrouping the European pulp and paper industry and championing the industry’s achievements and the benefits of its products. Through its 18 member countries (17 European Union members plus Norway) CEPI represents some 505 pulp, paper and board producing companies across Europe, ranging from small and medium sized companies to multi-nationals, and 920 paper mills. Together they represent 23% of world production.

News | 27 Sep.2016

Tiered approach impacts seriously the majority of energy-intensive industries in the EU and their associated value chains

We, the signatories of this paper, energy-intensive sectors representing about 2 million jobs in the EU and comprising many SME’s, are under direct impact of the EU ETS and are deemed exposed to carbon, investment and employment leakage.

We urge Members of the European Parliament to acknowledge the importance of our sectors for the EU economy, in particular for European jobs, and all their economic value chains by rejecting any “tiered approach” to free allocation and voting against it.

We strongly oppose any “tiered approach1” and continue to advocate for full (100%) free allocation up to emissions efficiency benchmark levels for all sectors.

We maintain that:

The tiered approach would reserve free allowances for some sectors at the expense of others. It would go against the principle set in the October European Council Conclusions that best performing companies in the ETS carbon leakage sectors should not bear additional carbon costs. Fairness should be a key principle of policy making. Jobs in one sector are neither more nor less important than those in other sectors.

The proposed tiering has no economic logic. It is based on flawed assumptions that the European industrial sectors could pass on costs without losing market shares and lacks any cost comparison between a given European and a non-European sector.

Nor does it have proven environmental logic. It would not deliver decarbonisation through investment and innovation but rather drag those investments outside Europe. In fact, the tiered approach punishes a sector investing in carbon emission reductions by giving a lower protection against the risk of carbon leakage as a direct consequence of these investments.

Moreover, it could well prove to have been unnecessary to prevent a Cross Sectoral Correction factor (CSCF). Many analysts’ reports, including the Commission’s Impact Assessment, predict that there will be sufficient allowances available to ensure full free allocation at the benchmark levels and there is no grounds for referring to discriminatory instruments.

Our industries have made several alternative proposals to tiering, which include a lower auctioning share (52% instead of 57%), the application of a dynamic allocation and a fully flexible reserve for growth that would deliver full and effective carbon leakage protection without the need for arbitrary discrimination.

In conclusion, we ask you to create a framework that gives all sectors an equal opportunity to thrive in Europe and not to pick and choose which sectors stay in Europe.

Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents promise to play key role in making paper industry more sustainable

PhD research carried out as part of the PROVIDES project has recently resulted in promising new sustainable hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs). These hydrophobic DESs could successfully replace chemical solvents in the paper recycling process in order to remove transition metal ions such as iron and manganese from paper pulp.

Coordinated by ISPT, the industry-driven PROVIDES project focuses on developing environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical solvents in the European pulp and paper industry. It is financially supported by 20 industrial partners.

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) are nature-based, renewable, biodegradable, low-volatile and cost-effective. When used for producing high-quality cellulose fibers in paper-making applications, they are extremely energy efficient, particularly because they do not require high temperatures. They offer a groundbreaking new method for the pulping of many different lignocellulosic materials for producing chemical pulp, pure lignin and other chemicals.

DES was the winning project of the Two Team Project, a CEPI project thanks to which the industry identified eight breakthrough technologies that would help decarbonise papermaking. Read more about it here.

The aim of the platform is to contribute to the development and implementation of European policies and initiatives to drive the deployment of flexible demand side resources in support of EU’s goals in energy and climate, security of supply and competitiveness.

The platform consists of the following European industry associations and civil society organisations:

European Building Automation Controls Association

CECED

CEPI

COGEN Europe

E3G

ECOS

ESMIG

EDSO for smart grids

European Climate Foundation

European Copper Institute

Smart Energy Demand Coalition

BNE

Orgalime

CAPIEL

European Heat Pump Association

Solar Power Europe

RAP

IFIEC Europe

EREF - European Renewable Energies Federation

Wind Europe

We are looking forward to sharing intelligence and expertise and exchanging on possible common actions.

Position paper | 13 Jun.2016

Post 2020 ETS reform

Statement in view of the Environment Council on 20 June 2016

As a market-based system, emissions trading has the best potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the lowest-cost way, and to create a market signal to drive low-carbon investment. The undersigned associations support the principles of the EU ETS as the cornerstone mechanism to deliver cost-efficient emission reductions in the EU while at the same time securing a global level playing field for industry.

But, for this to be achievable, we need to ensure that the EU ETS works for every covered sector. We must make sure that the energy-intensive, carbon-intensive and/or trade-exposed industries, operating in a highly competitive global market get the right kind of support to enable them to continue to reduce emissions within the EU. For the power sector, which needs significant levels of investment to secure and decarbonise the electricity supply, we must ensure a carbon price that provides a meaningful signal towards the sector’s low carbon investment decisions today and tomorrow.

The post 2020 ETS reform must focus on achieving long-lasting, holistic and effective changes to the system in order to instil confidence in the market. An essential element of the reform is to provide long-term predictability and legal stability to industry and investors, and to avoid the quick-fixes and piecemeal approach we have seen in the recent past.

In this respect, the European Commission’s proposal to set, in the ETS Directive itself, the ratio between the shares of allowances for auctioning and those for free allocation is an element of certainty. However, the rules should ensure the right balance between ensuring liquidity with regard to the available auctioning volumes and providing the necessary volume of free allowances on the level of best performers in order to avoid carbon and investment leakage.

The undersigned associations are committed to make the reform of the EU ETS a success. But it must be a success for all the covered sectors. As representatives of major industrial sectors, we will remain firm on this point as this will be essential to develop and strengthen the industrial value chain across Europe as well as European industry’s international competitiveness.